Red Wings 1, Bruins 0: Detroit draws first blood

Friday

Apr 18, 2014 at 10:35 PMApr 19, 2014 at 12:57 AM

After one game, there's no reason to think the Red Wings are anything but a threat. Pavel Datsyuk scored with 3:01 left in Friday's Game 1, finishing from the left side through a screen, and the Red Wings stunned the Bruins 1-0 at TD Garden to take the series lead.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

BOSTON — David Krejci is used to playing with the puck in the Bruins' grasp.

Krejci and linemates Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla can transition quickly into the offensive zone with Krejci spearheading the attack. When quick strikes don’t emerge, Lucic and Iginla go to work, cycle and exert their strength, turning defensemen into toothpicks. Even if the goal is not scored then, it pays off later, tired legs leading to a white flag.

That never happened Friday night in their playoff opener.

"The one issue for tonight is, we didn't have the puck enough," coach Claude Julien said after a 1-0 loss to the Red Wings at TD Garden. "And when we had it, we didn't start putting pucks in areas we can get it back. We've got to hang onto it and tonight I didn't think we played as much with the puck as we wanted to."

The Bruins were among the top-five teams in the league with generating over 60 percent of attempted shots in close games, a strong barometer of puck possession. On Friday at TD Garden, they attempted just 42 shots to 54 for Detroit, meaning they had less than 44 percent of the shots.

Game 2 of this series is Sunday afternoon, and puck possession will be an issue the Bruins will have to address to even it up. Not that they think it's an impossible feat; they controlled the third period, only to see Pavel Datsyuk pop in the winning goal off a rush with 3:01 left.

"We're used to playing tight games, and we've been there before," Patrice Bergeron said. "So we've just got to manage plays and make sure we score when we do have those chances."

It's a challenge to take the puck from the Red Wings, who under Mike Babcock for nearly a decade have turned puck possession into their own art form. The Wings play with pace and structure and have the skilled players to own the rubber rather than rent it.

Detroit never got its offense going much either Friday – "Not a lot of chances both ways and not a lot of mistakes either," Dougie Hamilton said – but the Bruins' best players never got a chance to get going. Krejci's line of three 60-point scorers combined for four shots on net. Patrice Bergeron's unit had four.

The Bruins knew many of their problems were of their own doing. Their game collapsed in the second period, breakout passes falling off and possession becoming non-existent. The Red Wings clogged the neutral zone, and the Bruins' punishers along the boards could never go to work.

"It was tight, so we have to find a way," Krejci said. "I feel like we have to go really deep [as forwards] and we hold onto the puck, then we will have some more time on the breakouts, but we didn't do that. [The forwards] have to come down on the breakouts. Forwards will get it and come up the ice as a line, all three guys with the same speed. I don't think we did that."

It didn't help that they had four newcomers to the lineup, after injuries and the flu bug ravaged the roster in the last week. Chris Kelly, Daniel Paille, Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller were all absent. Julien is hopeful some will return Sunday, with Bartkowski perhaps being closer than Miller.

In their place, defenseman Corey Potter was playing just his fourth game in 81 days. Potter and call-up Justin Florek were making their Stanley Cup playoff debuts.

The Bruins recovered from the second with a solid third period. After Tuukka Rask (23 saves) brilliantly kicked out Darren Helm's rebound chance in the opening minutes of the period, the Bruins found their legs. Krejci drew an interference penalty and the Bruins got their only power play of the game, putting several bids on Jimmy Howard, who made 25 saves for the shutout.

Just before Datsyuk's goal, Iginla put a shot on Howard with Lucic driving the net. The puck slipped through Howard's pads, but hit his glove and knocked away.

Moments later, Datsyuk's wrister in transition went through the traffic of Dougie Hamilton and Justin Abdelkader. Rask never saw it.

"It was a tight, checking game, but nonetheless, I think everybody's got to find a way to create more and that's going to be the challenge in this series with two teams playing really tight," Julien said. "So it's about everybody working a little harder and then gaining your space and doing what you have to do here."

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.